As a conventional typical wire gripper used when a wire, an electrical wire, a cable, or the like is wire-tensioned, for example, there is one shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 of Patent Document 1. The wire gripper is composed of a first gripping piece 31 which has a gripping portion 31a, a second gripping piece 32 which is movable relative to the gripping portion 31a so as to come close to and separate from the gripping portion 31a, a second lever 34 which extends through the first gripping piece 31, whose both ends project from the first gripping piece 31 and which is slidably attached with the first gripping piece 31, and a first lever 33 which causes the second gripping piece 32 to move so as to come close to the gripping portion 31a and causes the second gripping piece 32 and the gripping portion 31a to grip a messenger wire W when the first gripping piece 31 slides forward of the second lever 34 and causes the second gripping piece 32 to separate from the first gripping portion 31a and releases the gripped state of the messenger wire W when the first gripping piece 31 slides rearward of the second lever 34.
In a state where the messenger wire W is being fed rearward, the messenger wire W is not gripped by a second gripper 3 and it is fed rearward through between the first and second gripping pieces 31 and 32.
At this time, regarding a rearward movement amount (a sliding amount) of the first gripping piece 31 to the second lever 34, the first gripper piece 31 is not moved so as to exceed a predetermined length by abutting an approximately lower end portion 31b of the first gripping portion 31 and a stopper 34c on each other, so that the messenger wire W is prevented from falling off between the gripping portion 31a and the second gripping piece 32 due to excessive separation of the gripping portion 31a and the second gripping piece 32 from each other.